


Fire on Fire

by MTLS (orphan_account)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, M/M, Pro-Bending, earthbenders and firebenders and waterbenders oh my!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 19:42:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17413064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MTLS
Summary: Misfortune has followed Brady his entire life. It's mostly Matthew's own damn fault, though.





	Fire on Fire

**Author's Note:**

> this is like so lame ksdhg but i recently re-watched the legend of korra and was like,, i have,,,, to write this so here!! enjoy!!!
> 
> also i knew it probably would have made more sense to make matt a firebender but i had to do it for the irony thank u very much

Misfortune has followed Brady his entire life. Part of him tells himself that most of it had been self-inflicted, but then again it wasn’t his fault that his and Matthew’s treehouse burnt down when he was eight. Brady hadn’t known that wood could burn so quickly, and Matthew had challenged him to an agni kai.

“You’re an earthbender, you can’t agni kai!” Brady had said.

“Sure can!” Matthew chirps back. “Dad said. You wanna challenge dad?”

Their father had, in fact, never once told Matthew that earthbenders were allowed to battle in agni kais. But Brady hadn’t known that at that point in time, and blasted a bit of fire at Matthew. His brother ducked, and the fire landed on the wall of the treehouse.

They were lucky it was barely two meters above the ground, and they escaped before either one of them got injured, or worse, died.

Matthew formed an amateur pro-bending team when he was eighteen, and Brady was roped in as the firebender. He’d been extremely reluctant, but Matthew had threatened to tell their parents about his then-budding relationship with a waterbender named Sean at school.

“There’s too many rules in this damn game,” Brady had complained, kicking at a stray bit of rock as he watched Matthew and his friend Mitch set up the area as a makeshift pro-bending arena.

“Learn fast, baby bro,” Matthew told him. “And think fast, too!” He flung a rock at Brady, and since Brady’s reflexes were about as quick as a sea slug, he ended up with a bump on his forehead and a truckload of hatred in his heart for his brother.

Matthew still told their parents about Sean the next week, forcing Brady to break up with him (which is why Brady felt pretty much no remorse for setting Matthew's pant leg on fire). 

Two years on, Matthew decides to sign them up for the pro-bending championships, claiming they were good enough for it. They stood in line in the hot, cramped office together with a whole bunch of other pro-bending enthusiasts.

"Wannabes", Matthew mutters under his breath, and Mitch rolls his eyes. Brady amuses himself by listening to the many names that the other teams had given themselves, and thinks that their idea of calling theirs the Terrific Tigerdillos is still the best, but because he can never pass up an opportunity to mess with his brother, he instead shouts:

“Sleepy slothrabbits!” As the receptionist at the counter rolled her eyes and was about to call for the next team.

“No!” Matthew and Mitch both shout, but it was too late. She writes the name down on top of their list of names and hands them a set of uniforms.

“See you in a month, slothrabbits,” she tells them, smirking.

Brady becomes the primary target during training for the rest of the week.

*

All in all, Brady doesn’t think that being a pro-bender was all that boring or restrictive as he'd originally thought. Sure, he couldn't rely on his favourite move – lightning – but then again he doesn't quite like to burn his opponents to a crisp either.

It helps that their slot for gym training on Wednesday mornings also coincides with that of the Formidable Lions, a team that had gotten as far as the quarter-finals the last season before getting knocked out by a far more formidable senior team. There’s a new firebender among them – Quinn – and he has the prettiest and most graceful forms Brady has ever seen. 

Brady's never been more distracted in his life.

He's staring at the way Quinn's practising his shots on their waterbender – Jack, if Brady remembers correctly – and watches in awe as he lands a perfect strike and punches the air in victory. Brady grins, because predictably he's already kinda whipped. 

And finds himself hosed down by Mitch.

"Hey!" He protests, glaring and soaking-wet. He can see Quinn and Jack staring out of the corner of his eye, and wants absolutely wants to curl up in a hole and die.

"Hosing foul!" Brady protests, but Matthew is shrugging and looking totally unrepentant.

"Not a match," Mitch says. Now next to him, Matthew is positively howling with laughter. "Also your attention was elsewhere." He smirks, and Brady ignores him to grab a towel.

But finds his foot frozen to the floor. He loses his balance, then flails and lands on his face.

He maybe wants to strangle the both of them. 

*

The qualifiers roll around pretty quickly. They're scheduled on the third day, and Brady spends the whole day before pumping iron in the gym. Matthew had barred them from bending, but Jongdae had been too filled with energy and desperately needed to burn it off. The Formidable Lions were also doing qualifiers on the same day, and Brady really wanted to impress Quinn. Not that he'd admit that allowed. If anyone asked. 

Misfortune may have followed Brady all his life, but Brady supposed it may have been all worth it when he walks into the prep room, alone, to find Quinn suiting up.

He's also alone.

Quinn looks up, and gives Brady a friendly smile before sliding on another arm guard and securing it. This is your chance!!!!!! Brady tells himself, and goes up to the locker next to Quinn's to set up his stuff.

"Hey, you're Quinn, right?" He asks, pitching his voice a little deeper because he's totally embarrassing like that. 

"Hey," Quinn greets, still smiling. "Yeah. And you're... Brady?"

Bless the spirits, Brady thinks. Quinn knows his name!!

"Yeah," he says as coolly as he can. "You're really graceful," he blurts out before he can stop it. "When you bend."

Quinn's cheeks are dusted with a little bit of pink and Brady is definitely not proud of himself for making Quinn blush. 

"Thanks," Quinn says softly, ducking his head with a soft smile on his face. "You're not so bad at bending yourself."

It's Brady's turn to blush. He sputters a little, then collects himself and waves his hand. "No," he says, and it comes out a little high pitched. He clears his throat. "No. I still have a lot to learn."

"Hey, don't worry, we all still do," Quinn says. 

"Yeah," Brady agrees.

It's silent after that, because Brady doesn’t know what to say and Quinn seems busy with pulling on his boots and securing his knee guards. Quinn slips away a little after that, with a small wave and an all the best! that Brady returns with a voice that sounds way too high pitched for own his ears. He feels his heart sink a little as Quinn leaves the room with a little bounce in his step. 

He's so screwed. 

*

The match goes well. Brady was a little distracted, but after a whack to the head by Mitch after they'd been knocked out in the first round, Brady puts his thoughts of Quinn aside and focuses on his bending. They win the next two rounds easily, and move up the ranks to the next round of qualifiers. 

Two matches and three days later, Matthew comes back from reading the board at the stadium to announce that they've made it to the preliminaries. Mitch and Brady had been waiting anxiously at home for the news, playing pai shou to pass the time.

"Did you see who else made it?" Mitch asks. "Anyone we know?"

"The ones who stole our name," Matthew grits out. "Terrific Tigerdillos. And Lethal Spidermonkeys."

Brady swears under his breath. "They're going to be tough to beat."

"Not as tough as the Formidable Lions," Matthew says. He's smirking. "Imagine if we had to go against them. You wouldn't be able to land a single shot on that boyfriend of yours."

"Quinn's not my boyfriend," Brady mutters, trying to keep himself from shooting a bolt of lightning right at his brother head. 

"But you want him to be," Mitch pipes up. He's also smirking, hands crossed over his chest. This is totally not fair. 

"Literally shut up," Brady mumbles. "We're probably never going to get that far anyway. We're not that good."

Matthew grabs him in an headlock and pulls him close. "Then we'll make sure we'll be that good."

Moving up to the next round of qualifiers means that the Slothrabbits (Matthew and Mitch still very much toss Brady a glare every time they’re announced before matches) get the gym twice a week instead of once. Matthew stacks that up with daily combat training, and Brady finds himself absolutely exhausted.

“Come on, loser, you gotta shape yourself up for the preliminaries!” Matthew yells.

“I have exams to study for,” Brady tries, groaning.

“Fuck that shit,” Matthew curses. “You’re gonna be a pro-bender.”

Brady doesn't have the chance to reply because Matthew then dumps him with dirt, sending him to the ground and making him splutter, effectively ending the conversation and staring another sparring match. 

*

Brady sees Quinn again the next week. Hhe’s sitting on the bench in the middle of the locker room, turning his helmet over in his hands. They’re not alone this time, but Brady really, really, really wants to talk to him, so he does.

“Hey,” he greets. “You look worried.”

Quinn looks a little startled to see him, hands stilling from where they were fiddling with his helmet. “Hey. Yeah, big match."

"Yeah?" Brady prods him to continue. Quinn tugs his bottom lip between his teeth, before sighing. 

"The Lions lost to the same team last season. Casey was really good, but then he left, so... I just don't know,” Quinn says, his voice just a little bit strained.

Casey. The firebender who left the Lions to join the task force against the Equalists, Brady reminds himself.

“You’re better than him,” he tells Quinn honestly.

Quinn tilts his head. The corners of his lips tug up into a small smile. “And you’re really too nice.”

“I’m being honest,” he says. “Casey had a lot of energy but you have more spirit.”

Quinn lets out a small chuckle, eyes forming crescent moons that sparkle a little to Brady. “I don’t know what the difference is, but thanks.”

“Brady!” Someone calls, and Brady wants to turn around and throw a stream of fire right at whoever that’s dared to interrupt his second conversation with Quinn, but he chooses to ignore it.

“If you’re free next week, maybe we can hang out?” He asks quickly, ignoring the stop flirting with your boyfriend and get your ass over here, Brady! that’s coming from behind him.

He’s terrified that Quinn will say no, but he really, really wants to get to know him better.

Quinn's eyes widen, but then he starts laughing and before Brady can doubt himself, Quinn turns and starts rummaging through his bag. 

“I’ll give you my phone number,” Quinn says, wide smile taking up half his face. “And you can call me and I’ll let you know.”

Brady feels the relief spread throughout his body and he grins back at Quinn, eyes bright. He likes the sound of that.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [tumblr!](https://linebrawl.tumblr.com)


End file.
